Mesh network management systems and method based on wireless sensing

This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number No. 111115671, filed Apr. 25, 2022, which is herein incorporated by reference.

The present disclosure relates to a network management system and a method thereof. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a mesh network management system based on wireless sensing and a method of managing a mesh network based on wireless sensing.

A wireless fidelity (WIFI®) is one of the main communication technologies that people usually use to surf the Internet. A mesh network is a method to transmit data and the controlling commands between network nodes through dynamic routing. The mesh network can include a plurality of access points (AP) that can be connected to each other through a wireless network, and so the mesh network is able to extend the coverage range of wireless network communication area in addition to allowing client devices to be connected to anywhere while maintaining the network connection quality when many people are online. However, with the client devices in wireless network becoming more popular, the number of mesh routers in mesh network also increases. When the user left the mesh network, the mesh routers are still in work mode and continue to consume power. On the other hand, when the mesh network is at home or work environment and there is no one around, there is a possibility of malicious connection or data snooping by other people.

In view of this, a mesh network management system and a method thereof that can detect in real time whether someone is present in the environment so as to control the work mode of mesh routers are indeed highly anticipated by the public and become the goal and the direction of relevant industry efforts.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a mesh network management system based on wireless sensing includes a master wireless router and at least one slave wireless router. The master wireless router operates in a normal mode, and the at least one slave wireless router is signally connected to the master wireless router and operates in the normal mode. At least one wireless sensing detection zone is formed between the master wireless router and the at least one slave wireless router. The master wireless router senses a radio frequency signal in the at least one wireless sensing detection zone, and confirms whether the at least one wireless sensing detection zone meets an unmanned environment condition according to the radio frequency signal to generate an unmanned environment confirmation result. The master wireless router sets at least one of the master wireless router and the at least one slave wireless router from the normal mode to an energy-saving mode according to the unmanned environment confirmation result.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of managing a mesh network based on wireless sensing includes performing a signal sensing step, a zone confirming step, and a mode setting step. The mesh network includes a master wireless router and at least one slave wireless router, and the master wireless router and the at least one slave wireless router are in a normal mode. The signal sensing step includes configuring the master wireless router to sense a radio frequency signal in at least one wireless sensing detection zone formed between the master wireless router and the at least one slave wireless router. The zone confirming step includes configuring the master wireless router to confirm whether the at least one wireless sensing detection zone meets an unmanned environment condition according to the radio frequency signal to generate an unmanned environment confirmation result. The mode setting step includes configuring the master wireless router to set at least one of the master wireless router and the at least one slave wireless router from the normal mode to an energy-saving mode according to the unmanned environment confirmation result.

The embodiment will be described with the drawings. For clarity, some practical details will be described below. However, it should be noted that the present disclosure should not be limited by the practical details, that is, in some embodiment, the practical details is unnecessary. In addition, for simplifying the drawings, some conventional structures and elements will be simply illustrated, and repeated elements may be represented by the same labels.

It will be understood that when an element (or device) is referred to as be “connected to” another element, it can be directly connected to the other element, or it can be indirectly connected to the other element, that is, intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as be “directly connected to” another element, there are no intervening elements present. In addition, the terms first, second, third, etc. are used herein to describe various elements or components, these elements or components should not be limited by these terms. Consequently, a first element or component discussed below could be termed a second element or component.

Referring to.is a schematic view of a mesh network management systembased on wireless sensing according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The mesh network management systembased on wireless sensing includes a master wireless routerand at least one slave wireless router, and the at least one slave wireless routeris wirelessly and signally connected to the master wireless router. The master wireless routerand the slave wireless routerare both operating in a normal mode. In one embodiment, the number of the at least one slave wireless routeris plural, and the normal mode is an infrastructure mode of WIFI® communication technology, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The master wireless routerand the slave wireless routerhave a wireless sensing detection zoneformed therebetween. The master wireless routersenses a radio frequency signalin the wireless sensing detection zone, and according to the radio frequency signal, confirms whether the wireless sensing detection zonemeets an unmanned environment condition so as to generate an unmanned environment confirmation result. According to the unmanned environment confirmation result, the master wireless routersets at least one of the master wireless routerand the slave wireless routerfrom the normal mode to an energy-saving mode. Therefore, the mesh network management systembased on wireless sensing uses the master wireless routerto sense or detect the radio frequency signalin the wireless sensing detection zonelocated between the master wireless routerand the slave wireless routerto adjust the mode of the master wireless routeror the slave wireless routerin an unmanned environment, and so not only is the power consumption saved, but the network security is also enhanced.

Specifically, the master wireless routerand the slave wireless routerform a plurality of wireless routers, and each of the wireless routers includes a fronthaul interface FI and a backhaul interface BI. In particular, the wireless router has three WIFI® frequency bands, which are respectively 2.4G, 5G and 6G, or 2.4G, 5GL and 5GH. One of these WIFI® frequency bands is used by the backhaul interface BI, and the wireless routers in the mesh network use the backhaul interface BI for network connection and signal communication between one another. Thus, the radio frequency signalis transmitted between the backhaul interface BI of the master wireless routerand the backhaul interface BI of the slave wireless router. The other WIFI® frequency bands are used by the fronthaul interface FI to allow external user devices to connect to the wireless router for monitoring the wireless router and providing client devices to connect to the wireless router for surfing the Internet. When the master wireless routerand the slave wireless routeroperate in the normal mode, the fronthaul interface FI and the backhaul interface BI of each wireless router are set to be turned on.

Further, when the radio frequency signalis configured to be for wireless sensing purpose, the radio frequency signalis generated by one of the master wireless routerand the slave wireless router. It should be noted that one of the master wireless routerand the slave wireless routercan serve as a wireless receiver, and the other one of the master wireless routerand the slave wireless routercan serve as a wireless transmitter. In other words, the wireless router can be a wireless receiver or a wireless transmitter, but the radio frequency signalbeing sensed in the wireless sensing detection zoneis transmitted between a pair of wireless receiver and wireless transmitter. The master wireless routercaptures or obtains channel state information (CSI) from the radio frequency signalbased on WIFI® wireless sensing technology, and performs motion detection, such as human walking or object moving, on the wireless sensing detection zoneaccording to the CSI. When the CSI of the radio frequency signalmeets an unmanned environment condition, such as having a small amplitude variation, the master wireless routerdetermines that there is no one in the wireless sensing detection zoneand generates an unmanned environment confirmation result. The master wireless routerthen transmits a controlling command to the slave wireless routeraccording to the unmanned environment confirmation result to change the operation mode of the slave wireless routerfrom the normal mode to the energy-saving mode. The details of implementing the mesh network management systembased on wireless sensing in a mesh network environment will be described in following embodiments.

Referring toand.shows a flow chart of a method of managing a mesh network based on wireless sensing according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.is a schematic view illustrating a second slave wireless routerchanged from the normal mode to a sleep mode in a mode setting step Sof. The method of managing the mesh network based on wireless sensing (herein after, referred to as “mesh network managing method”) is applied to the mesh network management systembased on wireless sensing and includes a signal sensing step S, a zone confirming step S, and a mode setting step S. In this embodiment, the mesh network managing methodis used to manage a mesh network Min a home environment. In one embodiment, the mesh network Mis connected in star, daisy chain, or tree topology, but the present disclosure is not limited thereby. The mesh network Mincludes a master wireless router, and a plurality of slave wireless routers. The slave wireless routers can be divided into a first slave wireless routerand two second slave wireless routers. The master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersare in a normal mode. In the home environment where the mesh network Mis deployed, the master wireless routerand the first slave wireless routerare located at the entrance of the environment, for example, the entrance hall of the house, and a wireless sensing detection zoneis formed between the master wireless routerand the first slave wireless router. The two second slave wireless routersare distributed in the environment, such as in different rooms of the house, and two wireless sensing detection zonesare formed between the master wireless routerand each of the two second slave wireless routers

The signal sensing step Sincludes configuring the master wireless routerto sense a radio frequency signalin the wireless sensing detection zoneand to sense two radio frequency signalsrespectively in the two wireless sensing detection zones

The zone confirming step Sincludes configuring the master wireless routerto confirm whether the wireless sensing detection zonemeets the unmanned environment condition according to the radio frequency signalso as to generate an unmanned environment confirmation result corresponding to the wireless sensing detection zone, and configuring the master wireless routerto confirm whether each wireless sensing detection zonemeets the unmanned environment condition according to each radio frequency signalso as to generate an unmanned environment confirmation result corresponding to each wireless sensing detection zone. Moreover, the zone confirming step Sfurther includes configuring the master wireless routerto confirm whether the wireless sensing detection zonemeets a manned environment condition according to the radio frequency signalso as to generate a manned environment confirmation result corresponding to the wireless sensing detection zone, and configuring the master wireless routerto confirm whether each wireless sensing detection zonemeets the manned environment condition according to each radio frequency signalso as to generate a manned environment confirmation result corresponding to each wireless sensing detection zone

The mode setting step Sincludes configuring the master wireless routerto set the mode of at least one of the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersfrom the normal mode to an energy-saving mode according to different unmanned environment confirmation results, and the energy-saving mode includes a fronthaul-off mode and a sleep mode. The mode setting step Sfurther includes configuring the master wireless routerto set the mode of the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersto stay in normal mode, in other words, to continue operating in normal mode. The fronthaul-off mode represents that the fronthaul interface of the wireless router is off or inactive, and the backhaul interface of the wireless router remains on or active. The sleep mode represents that both the fronthaul interface and the backhaul interface of the wireless router are in a sleep power-saving state.

In specific, if a moving object, such as an user, has not left the mesh network Min the environment but instead is just walking between rooms as shown in the left-side diagram of, the CSI of the radio frequency signalwould meet the manned environment condition due to larger amplitude variation. The master wireless routerthus determines that there is someone in the wireless sensing detection zone, generates a manned environment confirmation result, and sets the mode of the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersto remain in the normal mode. In the same way, when the moving objectis located in one of the wireless sensing detection zones,, for example, when a user walks from one room to another room, the master wireless routerdetermines that there is someone in the mesh network Mand sets the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersto remain in the normal mode.

In the second embodiment, after the moving objectleaves the mesh network Min the environment as shown in the right-side diagram of, the master wireless routersets the mode of each second slave wireless routerfrom the normal mode to the sleep mode according to the unmanned environment confirmation results corresponding to each of the wireless sensing detection zones,. When the second slave wireless routeris in the sleep mode, the fronthaul interface and the backhaul interface of the second slave wireless routerenter the sleep power-saving state, and so the master wireless routerno longer senses the environment zone between itself and each second slave wireless routeras shown in the right-side diagram of. As such, the mesh network managing methodof the present disclosure uses the master wireless routerto sense the radio frequency signals,to determine whether there are people in the wireless sensing detection zones,that are distributed in the environment. When there is no one, the master wireless routersets the mode of the two second slave wireless routersto the sleep mode, and in turn the power of the mesh network Mis saved while maintaining the connectivity between the master wireless routerand the first slave wireless routerand the external user devices.

Referring to.is a schematic view illustrating the second slave wireless routerofchanged from the sleep mode to the normal mode. After the moving objectcomes from outside back to the mesh network Min the environment, because the moving objectwould pass by the wireless sensing detection zonelocated at the environment entrance area, another radio frequency signalis disturbed or interfered and thus sensed by the master wireless router. The master wireless routerconfirms whether the wireless sensing detection zonemeets the manned environment condition according to the radio frequency signalso as to generate the manned environment confirmation result. When the CSI of the radio frequency signalmeets the manned environment condition, the master wireless routerdetermines that there is someone in the wireless sensing detection zoneand generates the manned environment confirmation result. The master wireless routersets the mode of the two second slave wireless routersfrom the sleep mode to the normal mode according to the manned environment confirmation result to wake up the two second slave wireless routers, so that the user device can connect to all of the wireless routers in the mesh network Min real time. In short, when the moving objectenters or leaves the wireless sensing detection zonelocated at the environment entrance area, the master wireless routeris driven to adjust the mode of all of the wireless routers in the mesh network Mto the normal mode.

Referring toand.is a schematic view illustrating a master wireless router, a first slave wireless router, and two second slave wireless routerschanged from a normal mode to a fronthaul-off mode in the mode setting step Sof the mesh network managing methodaccording to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. The master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersin a mesh network Mare all in the normal mode as shown in the left-side diagram of.

After a moving objectleaves the mesh network Min the environment, the mode setting step Sof the third embodiment is performed to configure the master wireless routerto set the mode of the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersfrom the normal mode to the fronthaul-off mode according to the unmanned environment confirmation result corresponding to the wireless sensing detection zoneand the two unmanned environment confirmation results corresponding to the two wireless sensing detection zones. At this time, each wireless router turns off its fronthaul interface according to the fronthaul-off mode. When the fronthaul interface is turned off (changing to fronthaul-off mode), besides the user devices cannot identify the service set identifier (SSID) of each wireless router, other external communication devices also cannot identify the SSID of each wireless router. Since the backhaul interface of each wireless router still remains on, the backhaul interfaces of the first slave wireless routerand the two second slave wireless routersare still connected to the backhaul interface of the master wireless router, so that the master wireless routercan continue sensing the radio frequency signalin the wireless sensing detection zoneand the two radio frequency signalsrespectively in the two wireless sensing detection zonesas shown in the right-side diagram of. Hence, the mesh network managing methodof the present disclosure can reduce energy consumption when there is no one in the environment and also can enhance network security by turning off the fronthaul interfaces of all wireless routers. In addition, when there is no one in the environment, by continuing sensing the radio frequency signaland the two radio frequency signals, the master wireless routeris able to monitor whether the environment has been intruded by outsider, which can serve as an intrusion detection function.

Referring to.is a schematic view illustrating the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersofchanged from the fronthaul-off mode to the normal mode. After the moving objectreturns from outside to the mesh network Min the environment, because the moving objectwould pass by the wireless sensing detection zonelocated at the entrance of the environment, another radio frequency signalis thereby interfered and sensed by the master wireless router. The master wireless routerconfirms whether the wireless sensing detection zonemeets the manned environment condition according to the radio frequency signalso as to generate the manned environment confirmation result. The master wireless routersets the mode of the master wireless router, the first slave wireless router, and the two second slave wireless routersfrom the fronthaul-off mode to the normal mode according to the manned environment confirmation result to turn on the fronthaul interface of each wireless router, and so the user device can immediately connect to all of the wireless routers in the mesh network M.

Referring toand.is a schematic view illustrating a first slave wireless router changes from the normal mode to the fronthaul-off mode and second slave wireless routers change from the normal mode to the sleep mode in a mode setting step of a method of managing a mesh network based on wireless sensing according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. After a moving objectleaves a mesh network Min the environment as shown in the right-side diagram in, the mode setting step Sof a fourth embodiment is performed to configure the master wireless routerto set the mode of the first slave wireless routerfrom the normal mode to the fronthaul-off mode according to the unmanned environment confirmation result corresponding to a wireless sensing detection zone. It should be noted that when the first slave wireless routeris in the fronthaul-off mode, the fronthaul interface of the first slave wireless routeris turned off, and the first slave wireless routeris still connected to the master wireless routerthrough its backhaul interface. In other words, the backhaul interface of the first slave wireless routerand the backhaul interface of the master wireless routerare connected to each other, so that the master wireless routercontinues to sense the radio frequency signalin the wireless sensing detection zone. On the other hand, the master wireless routeralso sets the mode of the two second slave wireless routersfrom the normal mode to the sleep mode according to the unmanned environment confirmation results corresponding to two wireless sensing detection zones. As such, the mesh network managing methodof the fourth embodiment sets the first slave wireless routerlocated at the environment entrance area to the fronthaul-off mode and sets the two second slave wireless routerslocated at other places to the sleep mode, and only retains connectivity of the master wireless routerwith external user devices to maximize the saving on power-consumption of the mesh network M. In other embodiments, after ensuring there is no one in the mesh network of the environment, the master wireless router sets the wireless routers to different energy-saving modes, including setting itself (the master wireless router) to the fronthaul-off mode of the energy-saving mode, and so the mode setting step of the present disclosure is not limited by the second, the third, and the fourth embodiments.

In summary, the present disclosure has the following advantages. First, the master wireless router executes the signal sensing step, the zone confirming step, and the mode setting step to adjust the mode of the master wireless router or the slave wireless router to the energy-saving mode when there is no one in the environment, which in turn reduces energy consumption and enhances network security. Second, by setting the slave wireless router located at the environment entrance area to the fronthaul-off mode and the slave wireless router located at other places to the sleep mode, the power consumption of the mesh network is saved to the greatest extent, and the master wireless router remains connectable to external user devices. Third, when there is no one in the environment, the master wireless router continues to sense each radio frequency signal in each wireless sensing detection zone to monitor whether the environment is intruded by outsider, and so can double as an intrusion detection function.

Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.